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Greece and the euroAn economy crumblesUncertainty about whether Greece will stay in the euro is crippling its prospects

Jan 28th 2012 | ATHENS | from the print edition

THE banners at the entrance to the Bank of Greece museum in Athens promise a “fascinating journey through Greece’s modern economic and monetary history”. How could any passer-by resist? Inside the museum ranks of glass cases enclose an array of coins and old bank notes, as well as the paraphernalia used to make them. The bills range from 5 drachma up to 100m drachma, a reminder that Greece has had problems with inflation in the past. The end of history, at least for this exhibition, is 2001 when Greece adopted the euro. But the country’s present troubles suggest an important chapter to the story of Greek money is still to be written. Some reckon the drachma may roll off the presses again.

This is no longer just a fantasy of diehard sceptics about the euro in Britain and Germany. Even Greeks concede that the big problem aff…

The world's biggest cities: How do you measure them? By Ruth Alexander

Which is the biggest city in the world? And why is such a simple question so difficult to answer?

If you search on the internet for the world's biggest city, you'll find various different candidates: Tokyo, Seoul, Chongqing, Shanghai...

Which one you regard as the holder of the title, all depends on what you mean by "city".

Most experts will tell you that Tokyo is the world's largest metropolis, with a population of about 36 million people.

But the core of the city has only eight million people living in it.

The reason it gets into the record books is that the surrounding region - which includes the country's second city Yokohama, as well as 86 other towns and cities - has become so built up that it is now one huge continuous urbanised area.

KARACHI: Pakistan and India should set aside differences and jointly promote their mangoes to the international market, said Ahmad Jawad, CEO, Harvest Tradings in a statement on Saturday.

The two countries should set aside their disagreements and present a united front when it comes to marketing mangoes abroad, as the two countries could benefit from a coordinated export approach since, combined, their two seasons span eight-nine months of the year, he said.

The potential gains from increased economic integration between the two countries are large, he said, adding that India’s mango season lasts from March to June, while Pakistan’s begins in June and ends in October.

Jawad said that more should be done to boost fruits trade between the two countries, a move that could potentially generate billions of dollars and help diffuse longstanding cross-border tensions.

Consumers will continue to pay more for food because of high international commodity prices - but not because of shortages resulting from heavy rains which are destroying summer crops and damaging farming infrastructure in Limpopo and Mpumalanga.

''Yes, some of the crops such as tomatoes, green peppers and subtropical fruits and vegetables will be affected, but not other crops like maize and wheat. The reason we are paying high prices is because of rising input costs such as energy, labour and logistics," said John Purchase, CEO at the Agr…

Tropical plants: Orchids, bananas and papayas in the heart of the Bernese Oberland
Tropical fruits: Banana, Papaya and Co.
The warm climate and the possibility of allowing the fruit to ripen naturally results in an incomparable fruit taste. In the cultivation and care of the plants, we have been able to profit from the experience of the

Below I’ve posted a few photos of a Mango tree I photographed (with a phone) on the Greek island Kefalonia, in the Ionian Sea.

Over the past few weeks I’ve been taking mental note of the fruit and nut trees I see growing in small orchards and yards around the island.

The most common trees are your typical Mediterranean species, olives, almonds, fig, pomegranate, quince, wine and table grapes, loquat, and all kinds of citrus. Apricots also do very well, as do persimmons, peaches, plums, apples, pistachios, and walnuts. Kiwis do pretty well too.

Last summer I saw a number of relatively healthy bananas, some with immature racks of fruit. Some varieties of Avocado also apparently grow well here and produce a lot of fruit.

SchumpeterThe power of tribesBusinesspeople need to reckon with the Anglosphere, the Sinosphere and the Indosphere

Jan 28th 2012 | from the print edition

EVER since the collapse of the Soviet Union ended the old, neat division between East and West, people have been inventing new ways of dividing up the world. In the 1990s it was fashionable to talk about America, Europe and Japan. Today pundits draw the line between emerged and the emerging markets.

Joel Kotkin, a geographer, suggests another frame of reference. In “The New World Order”, a paper for the Legatum Institute, a think-tank in London, he looks at the world through the prism of culture. The ties of history and habit—of shared experiences and common customs—can explain a lot about who does business with whom. Mr Kotkin quotes Ibn Khaldun, a 14th-century Arab historian: “Only tribes held together by a group feeling can survive in a desert.” Substitute “globalised economy” for “desert” and this describes the modern world quite we…

Down on the farm as kids, we used to help with making sileage. As we stood in the silo tamping down the cobs, stalks and leaves as they rained down on us from the shredder above, all we could see was the surrounding grey concrete wall.

Slowly the silo filled and we gradually rose till, eventually, we would exit out of the top once the job was completed. No doubt if we had been able to rise even further and have a bird's eye view, all the silos in the area would have appeared as circles, just like the dots kids join to make a picture.

I'm always reminded of that as I scan newspaper articles looking for hints as to where our world is headed. Article after article is beautifully and logically written. However, each seems to treat its chosen topic as though it was self-contained and bore no relation whatsoever to anything else in the paper.

So, for instance, yet another page on the Euro crisis recently was juxtaposed with an article proclai…